Help!
by Evanna23
Summary: My clan was in danger, and I was the only one who thought of a solution, so naturally, I was the one who had to go on the dangerous mission... okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, I sort of left without permission. But whatever, same thing.
1. Prologue

******A/N: Hello! I have a few things to say before you guys read this:**

**1. I'd recommend having read Firestar's Quest, Skyclan's Destiny, and the SkyClan mangas before reading this, but it's entirely up to you, just be warned, there's spoilers.**

**2. I'm trying to improve my writing by adding more detail to the surroundings and what things look like. So reviews are VERY much appreciated, please let me know any ideas you have. :)**

**3. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You look like you're in pain," the ginger tom asked kindly, while looking straight into the tortoiseshell-and-white's brilliant green eyes.

"I'm fine," She replied with clenched teeth. "Just some cramps, nothing to -" She broke off in a gasp.

"Cherrytail? What's wrong?" he quickly placed a paw on her to make her lay down.

"The kits! They're coming!" Cherrytail gasped.

"What? Okay, I'll go and get Echosong!" He bounded out of the den into the pouring rain, leaving her gasping and praying that he'll hurry.

**::::::::**

"Borage, Burdock, Catmint, Chervil, Cobweb, oh! We should get some Coltsfoot soon," the silver tabby muttered under her breath, as she checked the medicine supplies. Suddenly, a dark ginger, soaking wet tom came crashing into her den, making her jump.

"Echosong! Cherrytail's kits are coming!" he gasped.

Echosong immediately took action. "Sharpclaw, go to her and make sure she relaxes, I'll be with you in a moment." Sharpclaw nodded before taking off, back into the black of the storming night. She quickly grabbed borage leaves and thyme, for the pain and to help produce milk, before bounding over to the light brown bundle of fur and jabbing it with her paw. With a surprised yelp, the she-cat woke up. "Get up, Frecklewish!" Echosong ordered, her voice muffled by the herbs, before running outside and up the path to the nursery, hoping that her apprentice was following.

**::::::::**

"Come on! You're doing great, Cherrytail! Just one more!" Echosong encouraged. With a yell, Cherrytail pushed once again and a wet bundle of fur popped out. Echosong quickly went over and licked it to warm it up, and then placed it next to it's littermates. "You're a mother, Cherrytail," Echosong purred after stepping back. Breathing hard, Cherrytail's eyes flicked open to gaze at the four wiggling kittens.

"Four she-cats," Sharpclaw said in a hushed voice, affectionately. Cherrytail purred roughly.

"What shall we name them?" she asked as Echosong and Frecklewish left to go tell the clan.

"I don't know, that one there," he flicked his tail toward the she-cat nearest to Cherrytail's head, "Looks a lot like Sparrowpelt. We could name her Finchkit."

"Yes, and that one next to her could be Robinkit, because of her tan pelt," Cherrytail mused.

Sharpclaw nodded, gazing at the gray kit, "If we keep up the bird theme, we could name her Owlkit."

Cherrytail laughed softly, "Okay, and how about we name the black kitten, Ravenkit?"

Sharpclaw purred, "It's perfect." Just then a brown and cream tabby, who had heard every word, walked in. Sharpclaw dipped his head in greeting."Leafstar."

Leafstar acknowledged him before walking up to the squirming kittens. "Welcome to SkyClan, little ones," she purred.

* * *

**Okay, I know that was short, but what can I say? It's a prologue! Don't worry, I'll try my best to lengthen them in the future. :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: The first chapter! Woo hoo! :) Before you guys get into this, I want to also warn you that if you haven't read The New Prophecy series and/or The Last Hope, I'd suggest you turn back, because there will be spoilers.**

* * *

"Rogues are attacking!" Ravenkit squealed as Finchkit tackled her.

"Who're you calling a rogue?" Finchkit roared before nipping her tail. Ravenkit yelped and bounded down to the water; Finchkit running after her. Suddenly Owlkit leapt out from behind a rock and pounced on Finchkit.

"I win!" she yelled before yelping as Finchkit twisted out from under her.

"No you-"

"Ha ha! Take that rogue!" Ravenkit shouted after sending a shower of water on the three kits.

"Ugh! Blasted river!" Finchkit muttered before kicking a pebble in the direction of it. After three days of rain, the sun was finally shining brightly on the Skyclan camp and the entire clan was enjoying it. So much so, that they didn't mind the kits' noise they were making since, quite truthfully, before sunrise.

"I want to go hunting," Finchkit declared suddenly to his mother, who was coming over to check on them.

"So do I," Cherrytail admitted, "but we're suck here so-" she paused, taking in the scene before her. "Finchkit, why are you all wet?"

Immediately all four kits began answering, but all Cherrytail could pick up was 'Brat' 'Water' 'Murderer' and 'Mouse dung'.

Cherrytail just sighed, "Never mind, let's just go and get cleaned up and then eat, alright?" After getting what sounded like an 'Okay,' Cherrytail led them up the trail and into the Nursery.

"When are we going see Sharpclaw again?" Robinkit asked after they entered the den.

"Yeah, we haven't seen him in _ages_," Ravenkit whined.

"Sharpclaw is very busy these days, you know. Being the deputy and all_,_" Clovertail broke in, making the kits jump. She was laying at the back of the cave, her belly swollen with her third litter of kits.

"Yeah, but..." Finchkit started, but was unable to think of a witty reply.

"But he's our father!" Owlkit cleverly picked up.

"That doesn't make him any less busy, sweetheart," Clovertail calmly replied.

"If anything, it makes him _more _busy!" Cherrytail snorted good-naturally.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting!" Leafstar called from outside.

Cherrytail sighed as the kits bounded outside, "So much for that midday meal."

**::::::::**

"Cats of SkyClan," Leafstar began from on top of the Rockpile. "I call you here before me, not with grave news, but with celebration. Egg! Come forward, please." Egg, looking completely shell-shocked, numbly walked up to where Leafstar had bounded down to. "You have have shown yourself to be a great warrior and excellent hunter, and I believe your mentor, Sharpclaw, agrees." Leafstar glanced behind her, to where Sharpclaw was sitting. He nodded. _I wish Sharpclaw could be _my _mentor_**,** Owlkit thought wistfully.

"Do you wish to receive a warrior name?" Leafstar continued.

"Y-yes." Egg answered immediately.

"I, Leafstar, leader of SkyClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code,and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn." She paused before continuing. "Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Egg regained his confidence.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Egg, from this moment on, you will be known as Eggfur. StarClan honors your bravery and skill, we welcome you as a full warrior of SkyClan."

The whole clan broke out cheering_, _"Eggfur! Eggfur! Eggfur!" before breaking up into smaller groups.

"I'm gonna be the best warrior in the _world_**,**" Finchkit declared suddenly.

Owlkit tackled and squashed her before declaring, "Well then that makes me the greatest leader in the _whole, wide _world." She puffed out her fluffy gray chest while Finchkit mumbled something into the dust.

Cherrytail swept her tail over them. "Come on, you do still want to see Sharpclaw, don't you?" She immediately had their full attention before leading them over to where Sharpclaw was organizing patrols.

"Check areas outside the border, find places to set markers, we should expand our territory since the Clan is growing. Be careful, don't enclosed dangers or other cats territories in ours, they'll obviously only cause trouble." He nodded his head to dismiss the patrol, which left soon after, before he noticed Cherrytail.

"Feeling claustrophobic in our tiny little amount of territory?" Cherrytail asked sarcastically.

He snorted then replied, "No, but we do need more hunting territory." Yelping, Sharpclaw spun around to see he had a kitten stuck in his tail. Owlkit mumbled something into his tail with wide yellow eyes looking innocently at him, before being playfully thrown off.

"Sharpclaw! I need to speak with you in private," Leafstar called, padding up to them. "Sorry kits, I'm going to have to steal your father away for bit." The kittens' tails drooped as Sharpclaw and Leafstar walked away.

"Cheer up!" Cherrytailsaid, as the two cats walked away. "You should be proud to have a deputy as a father."

They sat in silence a moment longer before Ravenkit suddenly ran towards the water, "Last to the river's crowfood!"

"Not fair!" Robinkit cried, the three sisters running after her.

**::::::::**

The next morning, the Clan woke up to a blazing hot sun, without a cloud in sight. And for the first time in their lives, the kits didn't feel like doing anything. Instead, they laid on their stomachs next to the edge of the river, watching it swirl beneath them.

"It's too hot," Tangle grumbled outside of his den. "The kits can't even take it." He glanced in their direction as Robinkit rolled on to her back and groaned, her reddish brown coat glowing in the midday sunshine.

"You know, for the first time _ever_, I'm glad I'm not an apprentice," Finchkit mumbled, as she watched Firepaw drag the old bedding from Tangle's den.

"Hey!" she cried, overhearing the comment. "At least I'm doing something useful!"

"Good point**,**" Finchkit mused, before sticking her paw into the river and splashing Robinkit, who was laying next to her and waking her with a start from her doze. "Okay, now I'm done being useful for the day."

"Are you kits feeling okay?" Eggfur asked, coming over.

"What do you mean?" Owlkit mumbled into dust.

"Well, you're just usually so active and everything."

"It's too hot," Ravenkit moaned, not even opening her eyes. Cherrytail came over.

"Let's go back into the den**,**" she said way too loudly, way too suddenly for the kits, who groaned in respond. "It'll be cooler in there_,_" she said temptingly. At that the kits got up and dragged their paws up the trail and into the cave.

**::::::::**

"Okay. That's it," Finchkit suddenly burst out the next morning. "The weather is out to torture us." The night before, huge storm clouds rolled in, and at moon high, began to pour with all their might.

"Actually, I think you might have a point," Robinkit said, peering out at the huge storm.

"What do you mean 'actually'? Do you have a problem with my general opinion?" Finchkit asked reproachfully before tackling her sister.

"It's good to see that your back in action," the dripping wet Patchfoot said when he walked into the den. "We were starting to get worried about you yesterday." Finchkit humphed before flopping down into the nest.

"Can we _please _go outside? It's so boring in here! And I really like the rain!" Owlkit suddenly begged Cherrytail.

"Yeah!" Ravenkit pipped up, "Me too!" Robinkit and Finchkit quickly caught on, and joined the argument with eager nods. Cherrytail sighed, but before she could answer Sharpclaw came in, soaked to the bone.

"Get moving. There's a flood on its way."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait! School just started back up and, like normal, has sucked all inspiration from me. D: But on a happier note... **

**I never thought writing about SkyClan could be so much fun! :D Anyways, enjoy the second chapter! Now it's also my goal to improve on lengthening my chapters! Help is always appreciated. :) This chapter I tried different view points, before I was writing from Owlkit's view, so I tried switching this time. What do you think?**

* * *

"Flood? What do you mean by flood?" Clovertail asked, quickly sitting up.

"I mean that there's huge puddles down there and the river is bursting its banks, fast." Sharpclaw replied. "There's no guarantee that the flood will come up here, but I think we all remember what last time there was a flood."

"What happened last time?" Robinkit chirped.

Owlkit jabbed her in the side. "An elder died, mousebrain!" A look of understanding and realization crossed Robinkit's face.

"Right, now that we have that settled, lets get moving." A ear-splitting screech interrupted them before they could move.

"Flood!" And with that, cats came rushing out of their dens to help.

"Okay, now its official, _lets get moving!_" Sharpclaw ordered before grabbing Robinkit by the scruff. Owlkit blinked. _I never realized how much Robinkit looks like Sharpclaw._ Owlkit was yanked out of her thoughts when Clovertail picked her up. Mintfur came running in.

"I thought you could use some help!" Sharpclaw nodded to Finchkit and Ravenkit, neither of whom had been picked up because Cherrytail couldn't figure out how to carry them both. Relief flooded her eyes when Mintfur bounded over and picked up Finchkit. In a flash everyone got outside and was pounded by the rain. Owlkit could hear roaring from below, but she didn't have the guts to look down. Cats were bumping into each other and yelling at the top of their lungs, and pretty soon Owlkit knew what the little beetle felt like when she and her sisters had played with it a few days ago. She couldn't tell who was who, where she was, or where a shout was coming from. Very soon, she regretted saying how much she liked rain.

**::::::::**

Firepaw wasn't quite sure _what_ to do. Cats were running around and doing everything, _what could I do without getting in the way?_ Being half-blinded by rain was helping as much as the same cat shouting something over and over again. _Yeah, I think we get it now._ Firepaw wanted to yell back. It was like a bee that refused to stop buzzing _your _ear and no one else's. Everyone else probably couldn't here it because they were too busy helping out. _Oh, that makes me feel tons better._ She thought sarcastically. She was standing at the top of the ridge and, not for the first time, was feeling very unneeded. Her ginger fur was plastered to her body and her ears drooped. After a few moments the shout still hadn't stopped and Firepaw at least wanted to know what was being said. She strained her ears. _Hop, Hope, Hey? Yeah, hello to you too. You might want to get moving before you get swept away._ Firepaw snorted, then focused again. _It...it kind of sounds like help...idiot, of course they're saying help, what else would they say in a flood? Hey? _ Firepaw narrowed her eyes and tried to find the source, _there!_ Firepaw spotted the figure of a cat in the flooding river up against the fallen tree. She then traced the path that she would have to follow to get to the cat, _water, tree branches, more water, and pushing, pulling, shoving, shouting, cats. Perfect, just perfect._ What was worst, Firepaw noticed, was that no one else had seen the cat.

"Mouse dung." She muttered under her breath before leaping off the rock she was on and into the mess.

**::::::::**

Owlkit was finally set down in pool of mud only to nearly fall off the edge when someone, quite rudely, pushed passed and headed down the trail. _Who'd want to go back down there right now?_ Owlkit thought through the haze of numbness. She felt someone pick her back up, but she was too baffled to completely care where they were going. _Graa, I've completely changed my mind. Rain sucks. _After what seemed like moons she was finally set down and she found herself cuddled up with her sisters.

"S-so, do you still like rain, Owlkit?" Ravenkit asked through chattering teeth.

"Oh, shut it. You're the one who agreed with me." Ravenkit didn't have a reply, and Owlkit scowled. _She couldn't have thought of a _worst_ time to remind me of that._

"Are you guys okay?" Cherrytail appeared suddenly, making the kits jump.

"W-we're fine." Finchkit chattered from the other side of Owlkit. Cherrytail wrapped herself around the four shivering kits.

"Where's the rest of the camp?" Robinkit asked, raising her voice above the storm.

"They're coming." Cherrytail replied. "Don't worry, they'll be here." As if on cue, Waspwhisker came into view, supporting Tangle on his shoulder with Harrypaw and Stormpaw following. The distant roar was growing louder. And after a while, all the Clan was gathered.

"That was a much larger flood than was expected." Sharpclaw growled. Relief flooded through Owlkit as she made out here father's figure. _He's okay._

"Leafstar!" Rabbitleap screeched. All the heads turned to Echosong and Sparrowpelt, who were carrying a limp body. Sharpclaw ran over to them.

"It's okay, she's just losing a life, she'll be back with us soon." Echosong soothed as Sharpclaw and Billystorm helped put Leafstar down. _Just losing a life? Isn't it a bit more extreme then that?_ But Owlkit just shook her head. _Whatever it is, it's leader business. And right now, I'm way to cold to worry about that. I'll just ask Cherrytail later._ Leafstar's body suddenly came alive, coughing and gasping with a scratchy,

"What happened?"

"You died." Echosong responded.

"I know that. What I meant was how."

"Oh, a tree was blown down on you and just crushed you out of nowhere, you must have died right away, since you don't remember." Echosong said in a comforting voice. Owlkit nearly snorted. _It's like she's talking about the weather. _Leafstar just nodded, and stood up.

"Is everyone here?"

"I believe so," Sharpclaw replied, "But I'm not sure."

"Everyone check, we need to be absolutely sure no one got left -"

"Tinycloud!" Bouncefire suddenly yelled, "Please tell me I'm not overreacting and that you're fine!" Every cat went silence for a moment, and when the was no answer everyone panicked.

"EVERYONE, SETTLE DOWN!" Leafstar roared. Everyone immediately froze, since when was Leafstar so loud? "We need to think about this calmly. I'll send a patrol down to find her, but before that, is anyone else missing?"

"Sandypaw!" Waspwhisker called.

"And Firepaw." Harrypaw called out.

"What?" Leafstar froze. Firepaw, Harrypaw, and Stormpaw are Leafstar's kits. They left the Nursery the day before Cherrytail had her kits. "Okay, I'll go down with -"

"No!" Sharpclaw interrupted, Leafstar looked at him in surprise, "You need to rest. We all need to rest, I'm sorry, but we can't go back and risk losing more cats. We'll search in the morning. No arguments." With that he ended; and after a while everyone finally went to find the driest spot to sleep.

**::::::::**

Yet another stick smacked her in the face. _Stupid stick. Stupid river. Stupid -_

"Help!" The call was much closer, but the storm was blinding Firepaw, making it impossible to see where she was going. "Help! Somebody, please." The ending sounding more like a sob, Firepaw gasped for breath only to have wave slap her in face, leaving her spluttering for breath before being dragged under. _StarClan, help!_ She tried opening her eyes but dust and who knows what else stung them, so she squeezed them shut, and hoped that she was going the right way. Her lungs began screaming for air when she burst through the surface of the water, gasping for breath.

"Oh, thank StarClan!" Firepaw heard someone cry, she opened her eyes to see a tan blur sitting on a fallen tree. After floundering over to the log, she scrambled up and blinked the water out of her eyes. Firepaw glanced up,

"Sandypaw? What happened?"

"I saw Tinycloud being swept away and I dove in after her, but I landed on a stick and injured my leg, I managed to stay afloat long enough to be pushed up against this tree and then I climbed on to it." Firepaw glanced at her injured leg, the faintest trace of blood was still welling from jagged cut.

"And Tinycloud?" Fire prompted. Sadness filled Sandypaw's eyes.

"S-she's over there," she pointed to another fallen tree, Firepaw could just make out a shape cut in the branches of the tree. "she hasn't moved, I'm not sure if she's unconscious or if she's...she's-" Firepaw laid her tail on Sandypaw's shoulders, and nodded.

"I'll go over and check on her." She said before going to jump into the water.

"Be careful! You are younger than me!" Sandypaw called out as Firepaw jumped off the tree and into the surging water. Water filled her ears and slapped her with icy cold water, she immediately lost all sense of direction and blindly went in, what she could best guess as, forward. Water surged around her and on top of her, not to mention below. Getting to Sandypaw was easier since Sandypaw had been yowling her head off, no noise was coming from Tinycloud. Firepaw mentally sighed, _You're the one who wanted to do something useful._ Before crashing into a fallen tree. _Stupid tree – wait, tree!_ Firepaw stretched her eyes as wide as possible. _There!_ A white shape could be made out in the branches of the tree before a wave splashed her eyes. Firepaw drew in a sharp gasp; a shudder went through her. _It's so cold. Why did the flood have to come during _Leaf-bare_ of all times? _She clawed her way along the slippery bark to the branches in the middle of the river. After a moment of scrabbling and being jabbed by branches, Firepaw finally made it over to Tinycloud, she quickly thrust her muzzle towards Tinycloud only to be jabbed in the eye.

"Klutz." She muttered, but her voice cracked and dread started to fill her. The tree groaned and creaked as Firepaw made her way more slowly to Tinycloud. She gently put her nose up against Tinycloud, but she knew it was pointless. Tinycloud was gone. "No, Tinycloud, wake up, okay? Wake up." Firepaw murmured into the wet and muddy white fur, but no movement was made. Firepaw stayed like that for a moment longer before hearing a screech. After scrambling out of the branches, Firepaw looked through the haze of the rain. The waves were pushing the other fallen tree into the water, and because of her injured leg, Sandypaw was in trouble. Firepaw bunched up her shoulders before realizing she couldn't just leave Tinycloud to be washed away. No, she deserved a proper burial.

Firepaw scrambled back through the branches, ignoring their sharpness, and grabbed Tinycloud by the scruff. She tugged and pushed, until she finally managed to wiggle Tinycloud free. Firepaw's claws slipped and, with Tinycloud on top of her, she fell into the surging water. This time, though, the water was pushing her towards her destination, instead of away, all she had to do was keep afloat and paddle diagonally. She wanted to place Tinycloud on the shore, where she would be safe. As the water roared around her, and Sandypaw cried for her to hurry, Firepaw was having a more and more difficult time breathing, and not just because she was hardly ever above the surface. Sadness filled her to her ears. Tinycloud, brave, strong, sweet, loving Tinycloud, was gone. Just like that. Firepaw's foot was sliced open when a jagged rock came out of nowhere. Firepaw let out a muffled yelp, as she came back to reality, she spluttered for breath and her other paw felt solid ground, she slid her claws out and dug them into the soft muddy ground. She limped onto the shore, dragging Tinycloud out of the water. Firepaw then secured her behind a rock, so she wouldn't get swept away, before jumping back in to rescue Sandypaw.

Once again, water surged around her. _You know, I'm kind of starting to get use to this._ After splashing her way to the tree, she dived down and swam under it the best she could, tiredness was beginning to drag at her paws. She pushed herself up out of the water and called out to Sandypaw to jump.

"Firepaw! How'd you get over there?" Sandypaw asked, wide eyed.

"No time, just jump." Firepaw managed to splutter.

"Where's Tinycloud?"

"Just _jump_!" Sandypaw's eyes widened even more in understanding, before leaping off the trunk to Firepaw. Firepaw grabbed Sandypaw's scruff and began paddling to the exit. By this time, nearly the entire camp was under water. Her eyes began to droop at the thought, _No!_ her eyes shot open, _I have to keep going._ With this new surge of energy, she paddled harder. As she helped Sandypaw limp through the exit, a new wave of pain washed over her along with realization. _What am I going to tell the Clan? What am I going to tell _Leafstar_?She'll think I did an awful job for sure. It's my fault that Tinycloud's dead. If I hadn't been so arrogant about Sandypaw's cry, I would've of gotten there sooner, and she would still be alive._ This new found pain, reminded her of her old pain, and as soon as she thought of it, fresh pain shot up from her injured foot, and she too joined Sandypaw in the limp to the Clan. _I really am useless, aren't I?_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello! I'm so glad you came this far in the story! It means so much! :) Just so you know, there'll be no more spoiler alerts. So have no fear of that! :D**

* * *

The sun shone down on Owlkit as she opened her eyes, the last of the clouds scuffling away with the brisk breeze. Owlkit yawned and scrambled out from underneath her littermates, her fur sticking in a thousand different directions. After bouncing a couple mouse lengths away from her snoring sisters, she shook out her fur and stretched, then looked around the hollow. The trees stood high above her, and sunlight flickered it's way through the bare branches, golden, bronze, and yellow leaves littered the ground while some cats slept in the protection of the bushes. Hardly any cat was in the hollow though, Sagetail appeared to be keeping watch, Frecklewish and Echosong were talking at the edge of the hollow, Clovertail was cleaning herself a couple of mouse lengths away, and Tangle was snoring in the bush next to Owlkit. But everyone else seemed to be off doing something, including Cherrytail and Sharpclaw. _So much for playing._ Owlkit thought sadly. She continued walking through the hollow.

She had only been out of the camp once before, after they nagged Cherrytail to death, as she put it, Cherrytail finally resented into letting them go and watch the apprentices train in the training hollow. Sandypaw, Firepaw, and Harrypaw were learning about how to catch rabbits, when Finchkit got the brilliant idea of going and catching a rabbit themselves, and if the each brought back a rabbit, then Leafstar would make them the youngest apprentices ever. Obviously, it didn't work. They managed to track down a rabbit but when they spotted it, instead of sneaking up on it, all of them bounded towards it. The rabbit immediately saw them coming and ran for it's life. They chased it all through the territory when suddenly the rabbit vanished into a rabbit hole, but they noticed that after it was too late. The kits went skidding off the cliff into the gorge. They yowled at the top of their lungs as they fell into the river. And after hitting the water, Owlkit blacked out; when she woke up, she was in the medicine den and she could hear Cherrytail muttering about how she'd never let the kits leave the camp again.

Owlkit sighed, that was one moon ago, but it seemed like ages. Then her ears perked up, behind bush, that was hidden from her view before, was Sandypaw and Firepaw. _They're back! But...where's Tinycloud?_ Owlkit pondered the question for a moment before coming up with the conclusion, _She must be helping clean up the camp._ Satisfied with that answer, Owlkit continued on, but before she could go one step further, a crushing weight was on top of her.

"I got you!" she could hear Finchkit cry out, causing birds to flock out of the bare branches.

"Nof, you didfn't!" Owlkit mumbled into the ground. "You sfeak!"

"What was that?" Finchkit asked in a sing song voice. "Are you congratulating me?" Finchkit yelped as Ravenkit rammed into her, throwing her off of Owlkit, who immediately scrambled up, only to be tackled by Robinkit.

"Watch out!" Robinkit cried, "I'm a big giant flood about to wash you all away!"

"Yeah? And I'm a bigger gianter flood about to wash _you _away!" Owlkit roared, pushing Robinkit off of her. Finchkit and Ravenkit added their weight to the tackle.

**::::::::**

Firepaw woke with a start, the kits were roaring and growling about a flood or something. Firepaw stood up, putting as little weight as possible on her cobwebbed-wrapped paw. She limped out of the bush to see Finchkit, Ravenkit, and Owlkit attacking Robinkit. Firepaw would have approached them, but for some reason or another, kits never seemed to like her very much. She sat down and began cleaning herself, which she forgot to do last night, so her fur was still caked with mud and whatnot.

"You already up?" Firepaw jumped and turned to see Sandypaw yawning and looking at her with sleepy eyes.

"Yeah, you're not?"

Sandypaw chuckled. "No, most definitely not." The cheer slowly vanished as she watched the kits tackle each other. _She's remembering what happened last night._ Firepaw guessed, before going back to cleaning herself. "Are you going to go down to the gorge and help out?" Sandypaw asked.

"She is most definitely _not_." Echosong said sharply, stalking up to them. Even the kits became silent and frozen in place. Which happened to be, Firepaw noted, with Robinkit sitting on Owlkit's head. "Both of you need to fully rest today, I would also say the same for tomorrow, but with the current state of the camp, I'll allow you to do minor work for the following days." Her tone softened, "Is it bothering you?" _What? My paw? Or the fact that I can't do anything today?_ Firepaw mentally growled, but aloud she simply replied,

"Not at all." While Sandypaw silently shook her head.

Unaware of the internal turmoil, Echosong nodded, "Okay, well tell me if it starts to hurt. I'll give you a fresh wrap this evening, alright?" Both cats nodded their heads. Satisfied, Echosong turned and walked over to where Frecklewish was waiting.

Sandypaw sighed in relief. "For a moment there, I thought she was going to murder me." Firepaw laughed softly.

"It did seem that way, didn't it?" They both stared at each other for a moment, before laughing. For some reason or another, being in a flood ties invisible bonds. Firepaw and Sandypaw had barely spoken a word to each other before, but now it seemed like they had been friends from the beginning.

**::::::::**

_If he tells me to hurry up one more time I'm going to rip his ears off that big head of his. _

"Hurry _up_, Mintfur, we haven't got all day!" Mintfur sighed at the irony of his timing. She pushed with all her might at the fallen tree, the same fallen tree that was the death of Tinycloud. Mintfur still couldn't believe she was gone. She was so - a gasp escaped her as another cramp over toke her, she stopped pushing on the tree and hoped the cramps would stop before Nettlesplash noticed. Too late.

"_Mintfur._" He growled. "Do I honestly need to tell you to hurry up again?"

"N-no." Mintfur managed to gasp. "I'm fine, it's...nothing, it's nothing."

"Then get back to work!" _Why is he being so cranky today?_ Mintfur went back to pushing the fallen tree, as the cramps faded. _I really need to see Echosong about these cramps. _The tree lurched, and with a huge splash, fall into the water. The water pushed the tree a bit, before it got stuck.

"Good." Nettlesplash said. "Now, after a long time, the tree will eventually rot away. So we won't have to deal with it any more. Then-" Leafstar's call interrupted him. Everyone splashed and waddled their way over to the Rockpile. The river was still considered a "flood" since it was still swirling around the bottom of the Rockpile.

"Tonight," Leafstar began once everyone was there. "we will move back into the gorge. We're vulnerable out in the forest, so we should come back here as soon as possible. Right now, your priority is making sure the dens are clean and ready, including the Birthing Den."

"The Birthing Den? Is someone expecting or something?" Nettlesplash asked. Something clicked in Mintfur's head. _Birth? Kits? Cramps? Am I pregnant?_ Mintfur shook her head. _I'll just ask Echosong to give me something for the pain, I can't be pregnant. Not now, this is an awful time._

"No, but if someone were to get hurt, we wouldn't have a place for them because the Medicine Den is flooded." Everyone nodded in agreement, and soon everyone was splitting into groups to clean dens.

"Okay," Nettlesplash started. Mintfur just turned and walked away. _There is no way I'm working with him again._ She splashed over to where Waspwhisker was organizing a patrol.

"Mind if I join?" Mintfur asked.

"Not at all! We're going to clean the Birthing Den. It shouldn't be too hard. The flood didn't reach up there, it just hasn't been used since Cherrytail had her kits four moons ago." Mintfur nodded, and followed them up to the Birthing Den. The Birthing Den was found when Clovertail was expecting her second litter and was afraid of her kits being trampled by the other older kits. So it was decided that the den was to be used as a birthing den, and the first few days of a kits life is spent in there and then they're moved down to the Nursery. There's no clear path to the den, and it's kept that way to keep predators out, but it doesn't make it any easier for Clan cats to get up there themselves.

Mintfur sat down to catch her breathe once she reached the den. _Maybe I am expecting._ She mused before glancing at Harveymoon climbing up to the den after her, she shook her head. _No, just no, we can't be parents, not yet, we just got together! Half the Clan doesn't even know we're mates!_ She thought about the idea for a moment longer, when out of nowhere Harveymoon went up to her and asked,

"Are you okay?" She jumped.

"Yeah, just thinking about stuff."

"Stuff, hm? Does any of that stuff happen to do with cleaning the den." She blinked and quickly turned to the den to find that it was already cleaned up. Harveymoon smirked at her shocked expression. She flicked him with her tail.

"Why didn't you get me?" Mintfur all but yelled. _How embarrassing._

Harveymoon shrugged. "You looked like you needed a moment alone." Mintfur glared at him. "Okay! Okay! I _did_ try to get you, but you didn't respond!" _Great, just great. Now everyone's going to think I'm going insane!_ She sighed. "Is everything alright? You don't look too good." Mintfur looked up at him, his eyes full of concern. _Harveymoon, a father. Wow, that just – that just doesn't fit. Although then again, Sharpclaw doesn't exactly fit the profile either and his kits absolutely adore him, not that they ever see him. And our kits would always get to see Harveymoon, at least, more than Sharpclaw's kits get to see Sharpclaw._ "Hello? Is Mintfur home?" Mintfur snorted, leave it to Harveymoon to make a joke out of anything.

"Yes, and, nothing's wrong, I just have a lot on my mind." _I can't tell him, not yet, I have to be sure._

"Well, I'm always here if you need me." He brushed his pelt against Mintfur's.

"Thanks." Mintfur murmured softly, closing her eyes.


	5. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry about the long long looong wait! I've had at _least_ a thousand different things going on, so I haven't had any time to update! :(**

**But here it is! Safe and sound! Ready to be read! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

"Mintfur." Echosong sounded like she laughing more than talking, "You're going to have kits whether you like or not."

"But I _can't._ Not now! There was just a flood and it's _leaf bare_!" Mintfur cried. Echosong was mistaken, she had to be.

Echosong snorted, turning serious, "Well you're _not_. You kits are coming in about a moon. And everything will be fine by then, okay?" Mintfur just sighed, Echosong is not a cat to argue with. "So, are you going to tell me who this mysterious father is, or shall I have to guess?" Mintfur looked up into her eyes. They were glittering mischievously.

"Who'd you guess?" Mintfur asked, genuinely curious.

"Hm, you know, I didn't actually think you would pick that choice." Echosong said, "Let me think...Rockshade?"

Mintfur laughed, "No way!"

Echosong chuckled, "Well then you'll have to tell me!"

Mintfur sighed, "Can I tell him first?" Echosong nodded in understanding.

"Of course." Mintfur left the den, feeling both slightly better and slightly worst than when she entered. _What am I going to tell Harveymoon? _She purposely changed the topic on herself. _And how's the Clan going to take it? He is a daylight warrior after all, but then again, Leafstar's the leader and when she had Billystorm's kits, he was a daylight warrior. Wait, why do I keep comparing myself to others? That's just rude!_ Mintfur sighed, deciding to just tell Harveymoon, and then see what happens. _I never thought this could be so nerve-racking._

**::::::::**

"Cherrytail, I want to go outside!" Ravenkit whined, the others quickly joining in.

"Hush, hush!" Cherrytail silenced them, "It's dangerous right now! We need to wait for the warriors to clean up the camp."

"Pl-_ease_" Robinkit whined even harder.

"Besides!" Cherrytail attempted to sooth, "There's a bunch a water at the bottom still, so there's no place to play."

"But we could play _in_ the water!" Finchkit cried.

"Now, now, kits." Clovertail joined the conversation, "Don't you think your mother has enough on her mind?"

"No!" All the kits said together, interrupting Clovertail's speech. Clovertail sighed, even _she_ could run out of patience with the troublesome kits.

"Why don't you just play in here like good kits, and then maybe tomorrow your mother will take you out."

"You said 'maybe'." Owlkit sniffed.

"Well you'll have be sure Cherrytail's okay with that." All eyes turned to Cherrytail, who was staring outside.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure, that's fine." Cherrytail replied, blinking at them as though they had popped out of the ground.

"Yay!" Ravenkit squealed, fluffing out her tail and ramming into Finchkit.

"No!" Owlkit cried dramatically, "I don't want the flood to sit on my head again!" as Robinkit wrestled with her.

**::::::::**

"I am _sick_ of the taste of burdock root." Firepaw growled through her mouthful of roots. Echosong's supplies had been washed away in the flood, and gathering herbs was considered 'light work' for the two injured she-cats. Firepaw disagreed, pushing tree limbs into the river was a much easier task.

"I know!" Sandypaw cried, her mouth also full of roots, "How much does she need anyways? It's like she has to treat the whole of StarClan or something!" They deposited and buried the herbs with the other ones in a pile before turning around and going to fetch cobwebs.

"At least that was our last mouth full, now we just need to wrap stuff around our paws." Firepaw sighed.

Sandypaw snorted, "Yes, cause limping across the forest is so easy!" Firepaw laughed in agreement. Their laughter died away as a cat came into view. Nettlesplash was crouched and his tail was flicking. _He's hunting._ The two she-cats stopped and crouched down.

"Nettlesplash has been acting weird lately, don't you think?" Firepaw whispered quietly after Nettlesplash bounded after a rabbit.

"Yeah, but it's understandable." Sandypaw whispered back, "He was seen arguing with Tinycloud just before the flood. He's probably just feeling really bad." Firepaw nodded in understanding. No one got to properly say good bye to Tinycloud. Because of the water at the bottom of the gorge, they had to do it in the forest and even then they were only able to do it for half the night. Sadness hit Firepaw once again. _It's all my fault._ She thought bitterly.

Sandypaw sighed, "Those cobwebs aren't going to fetch themselves." Firepaw snorted slightly and got up, and they continued on their way.

**::::::::**

_Leave it up to Harveymoon to vanish just when you need him._ Mintfur had searched the gorge from top to bottom with no avail. She walked into the forest, _He could be on a hunting patrol._ The trees rustled and birds chattered, but no Harveymoon. _This is impossible, I'll never find him in here. I'll just go and wait for him to return in Echosong's den. _Mintfur sighed and walked back to the camp. She went down the path and into the lowering water, and then scrambled up to the Birthing Den, Echosong's temporary den. _In one moon, this is going to be my den._ Mintfur shook her head, _I can't think like that, not now. _She climbed into the den to find, shockingly enough, Harveymoon on a moss bed, with Echosong tending to him.

Leafstar spotted her, "Quickly, quickly. Come in." She pushed Mintfur into the den. "Don't tell anyone about this, understand?"

"What happened to them?" Mintfur whispered, Waspwhisker, Sharpclaw, Ebonyclaw, Birdpaw, and Harveymoon were all badly injured and sound asleep.

"There was a rogue attack at the border." Leafstar replied sadly.

"But, this is the dawn patrol. It's past sunhigh!" Mintfur exclaimed, trying to fit all the pieces together.

"We just now found them." Echosong put in.

"But...but-"

"Look, just don't tell anyone, okay? We know just as much as you do, and this would only cause a panic." Leafstar looked Mintfur straight in the eyes.

"Okay." Mintfur said softly. "But, could I stay in here?"

Echosong looked up at her curiously, "Why?"

"I, um, I want to be here when Harveymoon wakes up." Mintfur replied, looking at her paws. A knowing look crossed Echosong's face.

"Very well." Mintfur went over and curled up next to Harveymoon. _Wake up soon, I have news._ She thought quietly, watching his sleeping figure before falling into a deep sleep herself.


End file.
